- 3 months ago
Welcome back to Handheld Showdown, a bracket-style competition series in which our hosts, Paul and Tony, battle it out with the best handheld gaming consoles out now. The votes from final four have been counted, and now, we need YOUR help to determine the WINNER of the entire competition! In this video, we reveal the results of round two and give our takes on which gaming handheld deserves to win it all. Whether you have your favorite picks already or Tony and Paul have convinced you, make sure to vote in the poll in the community tab now!
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TechTranscript
00:00After combining the votes from YouTube and the Tom's Guide website, I can exclusively reveal with 59% of the vote.
00:11Come on!
00:13Hello and welcome back to Handheld Showdown, our bracket-style competition pitting the best handheld gaming consoles available right now in 2025 against each other.
00:22And we've made it to the final.
00:23In the last episode, we revealed to you the final four and asked you to vote on which should advance.
00:29And today, we've got those results.
00:31A big thank you to those who participated.
00:33Once again, thousands of votes have been cast across both TomSguy.com and our YouTube channel.
00:39And once we reveal the results today, Paul and I will give our final reasons as to who we think should be crowned the 2025 handheld Showdown champion.
00:48Tony, you've had a week to think about these matchups.
00:50Do you think the right devices made it to the final four?
00:53Yeah, I think so.
00:53These are the cream of the crop, the best of the best, and I'm really excited to see who makes it to the final two.
01:00Okay, are you ready to find out who's made it to today's final?
01:02Facing off first in the final four were the Asus ROG Ally X and the MSI CLAW 8 AI+.
01:16Two Windows devices, one from last year, one from this year.
01:20Tony, you had to make the case for the Asus ROG Ally X, but I think in the end we were both in lockstep and think that the MSI CLAW 8 was the better device.
01:29But which do you think the audience went with?
01:31Okay, even though we did say the MSI CLAW is the better device, I have an inkling feeling that the ROG Ally is going to win.
01:39Just because everybody loves that handout so much, it's been around the longest.
01:44You know, the ROG Ally itself, not just the X, but the X is a better version of it.
01:47So I think that's going to possibly squeak out a victory here.
01:51Yeah, this is going to be exciting.
01:52All right. After combining the votes from YouTube and the Tom's Guide website, I can exclusively reveal with 59% of the vote.
02:03Okay, come on, come on, come on.
02:03Come on.
02:06The Aces ROG Ally X defeats the MSI CLAW.
02:09What?
02:10I'm not surprised.
02:12No.
02:12Not surprised.
02:13Very close, though, but I'm not surprised by that.
02:16That's a lot of love for it, bro.
02:18Sorry, MSI CLAW, we love you.
02:20You're actually probably the better handheld, but the people have spoken.
02:25Paul, you okay?
02:26No.
02:26You good?
02:27No.
02:27No?
02:28I was not expecting that.
02:29I'm not surprised, but I am surprised by how close.
02:33I thought it was going to be like a clean victory.
02:35Really?
02:35So you thought the assist was going to get even more of a...
02:38Yeah, I thought it was going to be like maybe 75 to 25.
02:41Can you give us the breakdown between the website and our YouTube poll?
02:45Yeah, kind of interestingly, the breakdown as it stood is on YouTube, the MSI CLAW took a 60% of the vote.
02:52Okay.
02:52However, on the website, the ASUS Rogue Alley took 77% of the vote.
02:58See, that's what I thought, like, overall.
03:01Slugging more votes on the website as well.
03:02Wow, okay.
03:03I'm disappointed.
03:05Disappointed?
03:05You really...
03:05Listen, maybe next year, the new version of the MSI CLAW?
03:09It's so interesting because, like, if you look at our YouTube comments, I mean, there were a lot of people who were like,
03:15oh, I like the size and core factor of ASUS.
03:18But then a lot of people were like, oh, you guys are just ASUS fanboys.
03:21It's like, MSI has, like, the better hardware.
03:23It's got the bigger screen.
03:25Yeah.
03:25Like, if I'm going to spend that money, why wouldn't I get the best performing one?
03:29And that's where I'm coming from.
03:30Yeah, no, I get it.
03:31Again, objectively, the MSI CLAW is the better one.
03:34I actually recently wrote an article, like, the top three handhelds I recommend.
03:39And for Windows, I chose the MSI CLAW.
03:40But listen, the people have spoken.
03:42So you just have to just, you know, deal with it.
03:45I need to hear back from you guys.
03:46I need to understand why you voted this one.
03:48Yeah, let us know in the comments.
03:49So I think the new CLAW A8, which is going to be its successor,
03:53maybe not exactly its successor, because it's going to the Z2 extreme.
03:57Yes, that's right, yeah.
03:58So it's almost like it's going to be like an adjacent lineup now.
04:03Yeah, because they're not getting rid of this.
04:05We don't know what's going to happen.
04:06I don't know if there's going to be an exact successor to this right now.
04:09I don't know if MSI is going to continue with Intel.
04:11I certainly hope they do.
04:12And MSI, if you're listening, please do.
04:13Because I think we've shown, not only from us, but the audience is very interested in something like this with similar performance.
04:20I think with this, they proved that Intel is viable for handheld.
04:24So it would be a shame if they just stopped that cold.
04:27Yeah, this week alone, there was an update to this.
04:30Okay.
04:31That brought even better performance and efficiency.
04:33Yeah.
04:34So it's even better than the Z2 extreme.
04:37Yeah.
04:37So even though we're going to have a machine with Z2 extreme, it would be nice if we have two options.
04:42But if you're waiting for the MSI CLAW A8, which is going to have the Z2 extreme,
04:47so it's going to be more on par with these two a little bit,
04:50more of like a direct successor to that in a way with the newer hardware.
04:56I think that's coming out in the U.S.
04:59Still, we don't really have an exact timeline.
05:00I think it's going to be closer to end of September, maybe early October.
05:04Yeah, something like that.
05:04And don't ask about prices.
05:05We don't know that either.
05:06We don't know that yet.
05:07So yeah, MSI CLAW, you're great, but better luck next year, buddy.
05:14On to the other side of the bracket where we have the battle of the SteamOS devices,
05:18the Steam Deck OLED and the Legion Go S with SteamOS.
05:21The Steam Deck is almost a couple years old now compared to the SteamOS version with the Legion Go S.
05:26But with this configuration, the price points are almost $200 different.
05:31Tony, you're the champion on the Go S, so do you think the audience has voted it to the final?
05:36Even though I wanted to make it to the final, I have a feeling that it's going to be the Steam Deck,
05:41just like with the ROG Ally.
05:42It's been around long.
05:43There's a lot of love for it.
05:44And as we talked about in the last episode, it has an OLED display, which could just make it the winner.
05:50So very curious to see what you guys decide.
05:52I'm not so sure about that.
05:54Let's see about that.
05:55Listen, I want the Legion Go S to win, but I think this Steam Deck OLED might be an upset.
06:01So, after tallying the votes across the website and YouTube, with a narrow 56% of the vote...
06:09It's going to be that one.
06:12It's going to be that one.
06:15The Steam Deck OLED knocks out the Lenovo Legion Go S on SteamOS.
06:19Okay.
06:20Look at that.
06:21Again, not surprised.
06:220 for 2 today.
06:23Yeah.
06:24Look at that.
06:250 for 2.
06:27No, I understand the people, man.
06:30I'm not surprised.
06:30Again, these are the longest running handhelds.
06:34Obviously, the most updated version of the handhelds.
06:37So, I'm not surprised at all.
06:39So, what do you think has people still siding with, you know, older hardware here?
06:43Do you think it's the screen, the form factor, the price?
06:45I think it's...
06:47The price is obviously a big one.
06:48And I think the display is also another one.
06:51And, you know, it's also word of mouth.
06:54Like, everybody's heard about Steam Deck.
06:55So, it's going to be the first thing they think of.
06:57It's kind of like the OG...
06:58Yeah.
06:59I mean, it is.
07:00It is the OG.
07:00It is the OG.
07:01It's also, let's just be honest, kind of a popularity contest.
07:04Yeah.
07:04You know?
07:04Yeah, the Legion Go S is objectively better in terms of, like, hardware and all that stuff.
07:10But, you know, it's still new.
07:12Very expensive, as we talked about.
07:14Might even be more expensive by the time we do this video.
07:16We don't know with all the crazy prices.
07:18But you notice with Steam Deck, for the most part, prices have remained consistently the same.
07:23That is a good point.
07:24But at the same time, they've got, like, the older hardware.
07:26So, maybe they're not as impacted as much.
07:29I got to ask you this.
07:31So, like, I would imagine you're happy either way.
07:34Like, because both of these...
07:35I mean, you know, I'm a stand for Steam OS.
07:37Last time we did one of these, you were all about the Steam Deck.
07:40And now we've got Steam Deck, basically, too, with updated hardware.
07:44But if you had to put one of these through, which of the two would you prefer?
07:48Yeah.
07:48I mean, I personally would have picked a Legion Go S with Steam OS.
07:52It's literally the handheld I've been waiting for, as I talked about.
07:55Ryzen Z1 Extreme, Steam OS, perfect combo.
07:57But I kind of know what most people like.
08:01Again, like, price, in the end, kind of determines things.
08:05But you're still not really losing out.
08:07You still get a lot of great games to play on it.
08:09Very portable, very light.
08:10And OLED is gorgeous.
08:12What was the actual voting breakdown here?
08:14On YouTube, the Legion Go S got 65% of the vote.
08:19So our video audience is much more in touch with kind of what you guys are saying, or particularly you, Tony.
08:25But, again, on the website, which did get more votes, 69% to the Steam.
08:31Wow.
08:33One thing I'm noticing, you know, and I want your thoughts on this.
08:36It seems that YouTube viewers generally want, like, the beefier console, whereas the users on Tom's Guide want the more, the least, or the more,
08:49affordable one.
08:49That's what it seems like to me.
08:51I wonder if maybe the Tom's Guide website audience is more mainstream.
08:57Maybe that's a way to put it.
08:59Yeah, yeah.
08:59Yeah, because if you're watching a handheld video, bro, you're probably pretty hardcore.
09:03You're right about that.
09:05The Tom's Guide readers favored the legacy ones, you know, the Steam Deck and the SSRGLI, whereas the YouTube comments went with the more recent ones.
09:17Very interesting stuff.
09:18But, you know, regardless, thanks to everybody who participated.
09:21So even though we love the Legion Go S, it is time to go.
09:24So there it is.
09:25It's all come down to this.
09:27Representing Windows, we have the number one seed, the ASUS ROG Ally X, versus our number two seeded Steam Deck OLED running Steam OS.
09:34Who could have predicted?
09:36Voting for the final is open now.
09:37After this video, head over to the post tab in the Tom's Guide YouTube channel to cast your deciding vote for the winner of handheld showdown 2025.
09:45Now that we've got our final two handhelds, what more can we say about these devices?
09:52So why don't we instead show you?
09:54We've picked out three games that we're going to run benchmarks on head-to-head to see which device performs better.
09:59First up, let's refresh ourselves with the specs of these two configurations.
10:03When it comes to design and display, first off, dimensions are very close.
10:07Weight with the ASUS ROG Ally X, we have 1.49 pounds.
10:12The OLED's a little bit lighter at 1.4 pounds.
10:14For display, 7-inch, full HD, 120 hertz with the ROG Ally X with an IPS display.
10:21On the Steam Deck OLED, we have a 720p display, but it's OLED with antique glare, so a little bit better outdoors.
10:29So inside, we have some differences.
10:31While they're both using AMD APUs, we have the Ryzen Z1 Extreme and ROG Ally X,
10:37whereas we have the custom AMD chip of the Steam Deck, and we also have more RAM inside the ROG Ally X, 24 gigs versus 16.
10:47Storage is the same, 1 terabyte, so it can fit a lot of games.
10:50And the other big difference, obviously, their operating systems.
10:54We have SteamOS versus Windows 11.
10:56And then probably another big designing factor is battery life.
10:59So with the Ally X, we're packing a larger 80-watt battery versus just 50 watts on the Steam Deck OLED.
11:04And, of course, pricing, $649 for the Steam Deck OLED, $899 for the Ally X, so that's pretty substantial right there.
11:13So to make things a little bit more fair, obviously, this does have a 1080p display, so we're going to drop it down to 720p,
11:19so it's apples to apples when we're running these.
11:21Up first, we've got Cyberpunk 2077.
11:24Benchmarks are a go.
11:26So on the ROG Ally X, looks like we're averaging 48, 50 frames a second.
11:31Sometimes it goes up a little bit.
11:33I'm not surprised by this.
11:34I'm already disappointed.
11:35I'm barely getting 21, 22.
11:37Ooh, that's pretty good.
11:38Oh, wait, I had 23 for a second.
11:40Hey, there we go.
11:40That is choppy.
11:42Yeah.
11:42Wow.
11:43Not great.
11:43What did you get, Paul?
11:44Okay, an average.
11:45You want to guess what the average was?
11:47The average, maybe 25 frames a second?
11:4924.
11:5024, okay.
11:52So on my end, let's say you want to guess?
11:5542?
11:56No, it's 56.
11:5756 as an average?
11:59As an average.
12:00That's amazing.
12:00But this is the point that we've been trying to prove the whole time.
12:03You have extra performance with the newer hardware.
12:06Yeah.
12:06Like if you're playing a lot of AAA games, you're kind of shooting yourself in the foot by getting
12:10this older system right now.
12:11People like that old.
12:12Yeah, if you like a beautiful, choppy graphic, sure.
12:16Let's say we kept this at 720p and we put this back up to 1080p.
12:22I think this would probably be slightly above 30 frames a second, maybe 40 frames a second.
12:27It would definitely take a hit, but I still think it would outperform.
12:30Super smooth style.
12:30Yeah.
12:31Yeah, yeah.
12:31It would absolutely outperform this.
12:33This, you'd probably even have to drop down to maybe 540.
12:35And I mean, at that point, what are we doing?
12:38Yeah, what are we doing?
12:39Yeah, that's, OLED can only make the screen look so good, you know?
12:43All right, let's move on to the next game.
12:45So again, 720p, low settings.
12:47We're playing the Reckoning level.
12:49I recently played this game all the way through.
12:51It's super fun, but one thing I did notice is the game is super well optimized.
12:54Yeah.
12:55Like I still think Ally X is going to give better performance overall.
12:58Things are looking good on my end so far.
12:59I'm hitting consistently an average of about 31 frames per second.
13:03I don't think I've seen it dip below 30, so that's really great.
13:06Yeah, on my end, I'm getting pretty close to 60.
13:09It's like hovering between like 56 right now.
13:14Sometimes it went up 62.
13:15Do you see what you're missing out on?
13:16Yeah.
13:17As I'm looking at this, like things on low settings are not, I mean, it's looking pretty much.
13:22That's the thing.
13:22It's a trade-off, right?
13:23It's like, yeah, you get the, you know, the contrast of OLED, but if you don't get solid frame rates, you know.
13:29What's the point?
13:30Yeah, no complaints on my end.
13:31This is like looking great, running fantastically.
13:34This looks like a game out of 2006 for me right now.
13:37But the benefit, so like we're not just talking about, okay, it's 30 frames per second versus 60.
13:42Because you have that extra headroom, you can bump the settings up to medium, maybe even some high, and get those sharper details.
13:48Yeah.
13:48You know, whereas with this, you're at the max that it can do.
13:53You're at the max, yeah.
13:54Yeah, it's aging hard.
13:55It's already maxed out.
13:56Yeah.
13:56We've got the results.
13:57All right, so what did you get?
13:58Actually, wait, let me guess.
14:00Okay.
14:01You, 30 frames a second.
14:05Almost 35, just under 35 for average.
14:07Okay, so over here, we got an overall of 65 frames a second, which is really good, and a max of 142.
14:16So, but average, a little over 60.
14:18That's great.
14:19That's fantastic.
14:19That is great, yeah.
14:20This is an example of a really well-optimized game.
14:23Cyberpunk clearly wasn't, even though that title's also really old.
14:26So when it comes to newer AAA games, especially ones that are a little bit more demanding,
14:30you're probably not going to be having a good time on the Steam Deck OLED, despite how good the screen is.
14:36All right, so let's get to the last game.
14:38Okay, so we're looking at Dirt 5, an older game, five years, but it's as old as Cyberpunk.
14:42This game is overall pretty well-optimized, so I'm going to expect...
14:47Yeah, I'm almost at 50 now.
14:48This is the best-performing one so far.
14:50I'm at about 45.
14:51I'm guessing you're probably at, like, 65, 70.
14:54Yeah, 75 right here.
14:56This is the first title that we've tested, where I actually have a little bit of that headroom.
15:01If I wanted to go up to medium, maybe even high, I can, you know, push the graphics a little bit more
15:08and still probably maintain closer to 30 frames per second.
15:10Yeah, like on Cyberpunk, you couldn't do that at all.
15:12You were already, like, topping it out.
15:14When you're playing on a handheld, you know, you would want to maximize it, but you're...
15:19Okay, not only are you going to get, like, kind of bad frame rates, but the battery life is going to take a huge toll.
15:24So, you know, when it comes to optimization, what I typically like to do is, if it's possible for the game,
15:29I like to set it at medium graphical settings, 720p, so I get a good mix of, like, video quality and performance.
15:38I generally don't like putting it out low because the texture quality starts looking bad.
15:42But generally speaking, medium settings, graphical settings, and 720p.
15:46But if there's headroom, I will try to bump it up to 1080p if the system supports it.
15:51Okay, impressive.
15:52I got an average of 53 with a minimum of just under 30, so that's pretty good.
15:58That's pretty good, yeah.
15:59Over here on the Ally X, we got an average of 74, actually almost 75, with a minimum of 49.
16:06Even the minimum is playable.
16:08That's great.
16:09Yeah, considering that your minimum is almost my average, that says something.
16:13Yeah, shows you the power of the Ryzen Z1 Extreme.
16:16So with all three benchmarks, the Ally X really puts the Steam Deck to shame.
16:20In terms of performance, you're getting nearly twice the frames per second in a lot of these titles.
16:24And at the end of the day, that's what an extra $250 gets you.
16:27You have the better performance from the CPU.
16:30You have the extra headroom from the 24 gigabytes of RAM versus just 16 gigabytes.
16:34Yes, you do sacrifice the screen quality, but if you're like us and you play primarily AAA games,
16:39maybe having a nicer display isn't worth the sacrifice of worse performance, honestly.
16:45Yeah, no, it comes down to what you value most.
16:47Do you value picture quality or performance?
16:50I'm going to say, I would not play Cyberpunk.
16:52I would not play Doom on this.
16:54Oh, wow.
16:54You couldn't pay me enough to do it.
16:56Low settings just don't look great.
16:58And the fact that I'm barely getting 30, I mean, that just feels like a really big sacrifice just to get a nicer display.
17:04Yeah.
17:04I'd spend the extra $250.
17:06Yeah, I think so, yeah.
17:07If you really value performance the way we do, the $250, well worth it.
17:12Well worth it.
17:12Okay, so we've been on quite a journey.
17:15We've gone from eight devices down to two while giving you every reason why one of these handheld deserves to win this year's competition.
17:22So who's going to be crowned the winner?
17:24It's all in your hands.
17:26Check out the poll posted in our YouTube channel and at tomsguide.com to vote for which device you want to win handheld showdown 2025.
17:33Keep the comments coming as well.
17:35Are you as shacked as we are?
17:36It's been great to interact with you and see all the discussion happening.
17:40Don't forget to come back to the final episode of handheld showdown.
17:43But until then, you can find us everywhere at tomsguide.com.
17:45And you can follow Paul and I if you want to see some of the cool gaming tech we've been checking out.
17:49That's it for us.
17:50We'll see you next time.
17:51Later.
17:51Well, Tony, you have to do it from the desktop.
18:02Yeah, because it's Windows, your favorite operating system.
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